First Time at an Online Auction? A Bidder's Checklist

How do you set up to bid in an online auction?

Setup takes a few minutes, and it's worth doing a day or two before the lot you want starts closing. On Auktia it looks like this; most auction sites follow a similar pattern.

1. Sign in with a one-time code sent to your email, or with Google. There's no password to remember.
2. Add a card before your first bid. It's checked with your bank, and nothing is charged or held while you bid.
3. Turn on outbid alerts, and opt in to text alerts for outbid and closing soon if you want them.
4. Know your starting limit: new bidders can have up to $2,500 of bids and unpaid wins at once until they've paid an invoice online.

What should you read before bidding?

Start with the sale page, not the lot. The sale page holds the rules that change what every lot really costs and how you'll get it home, and they differ from one auction house to the next.

• Buyer's premium: the percentage added to the hammer price
• Sales tax rate, and whether the sale ships or is pickup only
• Pickup address, pickup times and the remove-by date
• Payment methods the house accepts
• When lots start closing, the gap between lots and the soft-close window
• The sale's terms, including what happens if you don't pay or don't pick up

How do you place your first bid?

Bids go up in set steps called bid increments: on Auktia's standard, $1 under $100, then $2.50, and every item (lot) shows its next bid. The easiest way to bid is a max bid: enter the most you'd pay, and the system bids for you one step at a time, only as far as needed to keep you ahead.

Example: a lot is at $40, so the next bid is $41. You set a max of $85. If nobody else bids, you win at $41. If someone pushes it up, your max answers until it reaches $85. With a 15% premium and 8.25% tax, an $85 win costs $105.81 all-in, so turn on all-in pricing to see that total while you bid instead of doing the math in your head.

Before you confirm, read the lot description and every photo once more. Lots are sold as is, so what you see, and what the description says, is what you're agreeing to buy.

What happens when the auction ends?

Lots close one after another, not all at once, and each has a soft close: a bid in the last few minutes resets that lot's clock. A lot ends when its closing window passes with no new bid. Read how soft close works if it's new to you, because it changes how the final minutes feel.

If you win, the item moves to Won under My bids. Your invoice is ready once the auction closes, and you pay it online by card, or by another method if the seller (auction house) lists one. The money goes straight to the seller.

What do you do after you win?

Pay promptly, then plan pickup or watch for tracking if the lot ships. Pickup times and the address are on the auction page, and items that ship show tracking on My bids once they're on the way.

For pickup, bring ID, your receipt, the right vehicle and something to load with. Here's a full list of what to bring to an auction pickup. If anything arrives materially different from its description, tell the house within 7 days.

What mistakes do first-time bidders make?

Almost every first-timer regret falls into one of these. None of them are hard to avoid once you know to look.

• Bidding on the hammer price and being surprised by premium and tax on the invoice
• Winning a lot that's pickup only, two hours away, with a remove-by date you can't make
• Raising a max bid in the soft close to beat one other bidder
• Bidding on lots in several sales at once and losing track of the total
• Skipping the photos and description, then finding a missing part at pickup